EMIS - News and updates

The EMIS-R Marine Analyst –
an aid to the monitoring and management of marine areas,
including marine protected areas

Recently launched and presented at the International Marine Science Communication Conference CommOCEAN 2016 (B-Bruges), the EMIS Marine Analyst provides simple methods to explore any pre-defined areas of the European seas and global ocean and assess the pressures to which they are exposed. For example, it assists in the management of Marine Protected Areas (MPA) and is conceived as a tool to support the implementation of environmental directives, e.g. the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), through communicating environmental information/indicators of relevance to various policy descriptors.

A new geospatial dataset mapping EUNIS seabed habitats down to level 5 has been compiled by bringing in, and harmonizing where needed, complementary broad-scale information from the EMODNET Seabed Habitats portal and UNEP's Global Seafloor Geomorphic Features Map. A comprehensive coverage of 8.7 million sq km is achieved, doubling the extent previously charted. Area-based statistics are presented, including overall and basin-specific habitat extents.

Productivity changes in the Mediterranean Sea for the twenty-first century in response to changes in the regional atmospheric forcing (17/11/2015)

A recently published JRC article describes the effects of atmospheric forcing changes on the Mediterranean Sea's primary productivity rate over the coming century. It finds that, although the average overall primary production rate will be almost unchanged, climate change will lead to a reduction in primary production in the western basin, and an increase in the eastern basin.

Macias DM, Garcia-Gorriz E and Stips A (2015) Productivity changes in the Mediterranean Sea for the twenty-first century in response to changes in the regional atmospheric forcing. Front. Mar. Sci. 2:79. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2015.00079

The EMIS database has been updated with new 8Day MERIS Chlorophyll-a datasets at 2km resolution. We plan to add new functionalities into the EMIS-R package to make possible the access and analysis of 8Day dataset timeseries.